Geraint Thomas defied his doubters Thursday as Dylan Teuns won stage six of the Tour de France and his breakaway partner Giulio Ciccone snatched the yellow jersey by just a few seconds.
Teuns won the ultra-tough mountain stage to Planche des Belles Filles when he and Ciccone crossed the summit finish line as the sole survivors of a mass breakaway.
“It was so steep, but I love these kind of finishes, I’m pretty good at this kind of finish,” said Teuns
Ciccone was less calm about his feat.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said the Italian after taking the overall lead from Julian Alaphilippe by just six seconds.
Alaphilippe put in a heroic defence of his lead, but missed out due to the bonus seconds over the final two summits saw the young Italian edge ahead of him.
“It feels strange, to have the yellow jersey on my back feels so strange.” said Ciccone.
“I wanted to win the stage for the team but I never believed it would be possible to take the lead,” said the 24-year-old who rides for the same Trek-Segafredo team as Richie Porte.
Just behind this victorious pair the struggle between the contenders to win the Tour de France itself played out when defending champion Geraint Thomas suggested that the doubters who had called him a one-hit wonder after his 2018 win with Sky might be wrong.
Other good performances on the day came from Adam Yates, Irishman Dan Martin and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot, who grew up in the region.
Three of the overall contenders lost significant time as 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali, Steven Kruijswijk and, to a greater extent, Frenchman Romain Bardet suffered on the slopes.
Tour de France 2019 – stage 6 results (Mulhouse – La Planche des Belles Filles):
| 1 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) | 4:29:03 |
| 2 | Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) | +11” |
| 3 | Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Gobert) | +01’05” |
| 4 | Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) | +01’44” |
| 5 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +01’46” |
| 6 | Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 7 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +01’51” |
| 8 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 9 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +01’53” |
| 10 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | ,, |
| 11 | Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 12 | Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) | ,, |
| 13 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’58” |
| 14 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 15 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) | +02’02” |
| 16 | Michael Woods (EF Education First) | ,, |
| 17 | George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 18 | Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +02’17” |
| 19 | Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) | +02’19” |
| 20 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
Tour de France 2019 – general classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) | 24:29:03 |
| 2 | Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +06” |
| 3 | Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) | +32” |
| 4 | George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) | +47” |
| 5 | Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) | +49” |
| 6 | Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) | +53” |
| 7 | Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) | +58” |
| 8 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | +01’04” |
| 9 | Michael Woods (EF Education First) | +01’13” |
| 10 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) | +01’15” |
| 11 | Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) | +01’19” |
| 12 | Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +01’22” |
| 13 | Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +01’23” |
| 14 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’24” |
| 15 | Xandro Meurisse (Wanty-Gobert) | +01’39” |
| 16 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +01’41” |
| 17 | Mikel Landa (Movistar) | +01’43” |
| 18 | Daniel Martin (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’46” |
| 19 | David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) | +01’52” |
| 20 | Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) | +01’56” |
